


To Protect and Serve

by Katsuko



Series: The Right of All [3]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Friendship, Gen, Medic!Starscream, Screamer snark deserves its own bloody tag, Skywarp is a BAMF
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-03-09
Updated: 2011-03-09
Packaged: 2017-11-07 11:10:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/430431
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katsuko/pseuds/Katsuko
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He knew they were wasted as Peacekeepers, but there was little else they could do.</p>
            </blockquote>





	To Protect and Serve

**Author's Note:**

> Yet another follow-up/prequel piece to The Right of All. I felt it time to tell Thundercracker and Skywarp's story.
> 
> Originally posted 9 March 2011.

Thundercracker sighed to himself for what had to be the millionth time even as he responded automatically to the comm for all Peacekeepers in Sector Sigma to converge on the square. He was a war academy trained mech, like every other seeker on Cybertron, but with no actual wars to fight there was a serious lack of career options. The best any of them could manage was to be co-opted into a Peacekeeper unit, and even then the civilian-cast didn't know what the slag to do with them.

The best Praxus could apparently come up with was to have warrior-cast fly patrol routes and... actually, that was all. Never mind that Thundercracker had been trained as a Military Enforcer. Never mind Skywarp, with his warp drive and the expanded processor capacity to handle hundreds of thousands of RAM of coordinate data that had made him a natural for tactical training. Warrior-cast were universally distrusted in any role other than military positions, so they were delegated to the least-glamorous jobs possible without firing them outright.

In all honesty, there had been more than a few times that Thundercracker considered throwing his lot in with the dissidents from out of Kaon. True, their leader was an ex-miner turned gladiator turned general, but the so-called Decepticons were making sure that they weren't ignored. Any group that strived to gain equal treatment for all Cybertronians regardless of cast couldn't be all bad, but the Senate was already painting them as the downfall of civilized life. Thundercracker could ill-afford to be a target of the ruling party, and so he simply continued to follow the status quo.

_"Thundercracker to Prowl,"_ he called over the comm. _"What's the situation?"_

_"Decepticon insurgents,"_ came the response from the Peacekeeper unit commander. _"We have nearly two dozen all around the city-state. I need you and Skywarp to join me at Sigma-693."_

_"Coming in hot, boss,"_ Skywarp cut in over the channel, and Thundercracker smirked slightly at the exasperated exvent from the grounder. The other seeker literally _needed_ something to occupy his processor almost constantly or he got bored. And a bored Skywarp was a danger to himself and others; the mech was almost constantly on report for one prank or another, and the situation could easily be avoided if that fragger Prowl would just give him access to the city-state's defenses. Surely ensuring that the grids were all up to code and rebuilding corrupt firewalls would keep Skywarp out of trouble for at least a few joors....

The blue seeker touched down at the designated coordinates an astrosecond before his wingmate's arrival, ignoring the distrustful glare sent their way by their commander. He didn't care for Prowl, probably never would, so it was a waste of time to dwell on the groundpounder's hate for all mechs warrior-cast. Skywarp's response was a cheerfully blank grin and a wave, followed by a glare of his own as Prowl turned away without acknowledging the action.

"So what's the buzz?" the purple seeker asked, his cheerfully blank tone belying the boredom in his optics. Chances were good that he was planning out teleportation coordinates for his next prank just to keep the remainder of his processor from locking up.

Prowl shot him another glare before speaking: "We have reports that one of the insurgents was shot down in the vicinity. One of the reports claims that a second insurgent is still in the area as well. Fan out and search for them. We need information, so don't deactivate them unless necessary."

The two seekers nodded and headed in opposite directions, although Thundercracker could tell that the orders didn't sit well with his wingmate. Pit, they didn't sit well with him either, but there was nothing for it. The blue mech did a cursory scan as he rounded the corner slowly, pausing as he got a sensor reading from a few kliks ahead of him. He debated for a moment on whether to ping Prowl before deciding to check things out first. Moving slowly, Thundercracker approached quietly enough to catch the vocalizations of two mechs.

" _Ow!_ Slag it, Screamer, that hurt!" the first mech snapped, followed by another yelp and the sound of metal striking metal.

"If you hadn't decided to fling yourself in front of laser fire, you could be halfway across Praxus by now," the second mech replied, sounding annoyed with the other. "Now sit still or I'll hit you again."

Thundercracker shifted just enough to catch sight of the pair, nearly stalling out in surprise at what he saw.

A mere hundred mechanometers from where he stood, a tricolored seeker knelt next to a violet-blue minibot. The minibot was obviously the damaged party, his leg sparking dangerously as the seeker worked at repairing the wound. The seeker obviously knew what he was doing, snapping out another admonition to _sit still or I'll weld you to the ground_ even as he carefully welded damaged wires back together with a small blowtorch. Thundercracker's optics cycled in closer, and after a moment he found what he was looking for; etched into the glass of the seeker's cockpit were the Cybertronian symbols denoting a medic.

_The Decepticons have seekers,_ he thought, optics blinking as he processed the information. _Not only that, they have a seeker **medic.** I wasn't aware of any seeker going through the training...._

He didn't notice Prowl's arrival from the east until he caught the sound of a blaster charging; the seeker medic didn't even flinch, but the injured Decepticon's helm turned to track the threat instantly.

"Decepticon seeker, step away from the minibot and throw aside any weapons," the Peacekeeper ordered, keeping the pair in his sights.

"He's a medic, Prowl," Thundercracker snapped, drawing the other seeker's attention for an astrosecond before he returned to his task.

"No matter," Prowl replied. "Decepticon seeker, I repeat. Step away from the minibot."

"Yeah, _that's_ gonna happen," the medic said, tilting his helm in an action that Thundercracker would one day equate to the human gesture of rolling one's eyes. "In case it missed your notice, _Peacekeeper designate Prowl_ , I'm wrist-deep in Rumble's leg. I'm not moving until I'm finished, so your aft can wait a breem."

"Then you leave me no choice. Thundercracker, set your blaster to stun."

The blue seeker shot a look at his commander. "He's a _medic_ , Prowl!"

"He's also a Decepticon. Take the shot or I will."

A burst of displaced air was the only warning given. Skywarp must have been watching from another position because he never even flinched as he turned his blaster onto the groundpounder.

"Sorry, Prowl," he said smoothly, "but I'm with TC on this one."

The shot hit Prowl between the doorwings, and the mech collapsed to the ground. Skywarp stepped over the fallen Peacekeeper and moved closer to the two Decepticons; Thundercracker hesitated for an astrosecond before following.

The minibot watched them approach warily, and from the new angle Thundercracker could see that the blaster he was carrying was set at full power. "That's close enough," he snarled, adjusting his grip and raising the weapon.

"If they were going to hurt us, Rumble, they already would have," the medic noted, optics still turned to the last few wires he needed to patch up.

"You might trust 'em, Screamer, but I don't," Rumble replied. "They might be seekers, but they're also Peacekeepers. If you'd look up for more than half an astro you'd see the slagging insignia."

"How many times do I have to tell you that my designation is _Starscream_ and not whatever you want to shorten it to this cycle?" the tricolored seeker asked. He finished up the last weld and subspaced the blowtorch. "There, you're as fixed as I can manage in the field, runt. Go blow stuff up or whatever it is Soundwave sends you to do."

Rumble carefully stood up, still giving Thundercracker and Skywarp distrusting looks. "What about them?"

"I tendered my resignation just now," Skywarp replied. "Being a Peacekeeper's boring anyway."

Starscream gave the two seekers a critical look as he likewise stood up, brushing the dust from his knees. "Academy trained, right?" he asked.

"Military Enforcer," Thundercracker supplied, "Level Alpha. And they had us doing patrols."

"What about you?" This time the gaze swung to Skywarp.

The purple seeker drew an intake. "Tactical, military history, topography, and a functional warp drive." When the Decepticons stared at him, the medic raising an optic ridge, Skywarp added, "I've also got an expanded processor to handle all that stuff at once."

"No wonder you're bored," Starscream mused. He tilted his helm for a moment and his optics dimmed, obvious indicators that he was on a comm call, before turning his attention back to the ex-Peacekeepers. "Rumble, Megatron wants you to head for Sigma-672 and give Frenzy and Swindle back-up. And for you to remind Swindle that he's supposed to be setting explosives, not stealing the city blind."

"You got it, Stars," Rumble replied before taking off, either missing or ignoring Starscream's growl at the new nickname.

"As for you two," the medic continued, turning his gaze back to the other seekers, "it seems that we have a couple of openings within our organization. Would either of you happen to be looking for a position as enforcer or tactical officer?"

"I might be," Skywarp said, a faint grin on his dermaplates. "What's the catch?"

"Apparently I'm in need of a keeper," Starscream replied, tilting his helm in the soon-to-be familiar gesture of annoyance. "If you take the job, part of your duties will be to make sure, quote, _my easily-distracted CMO doesn't get his aft shot in the field because we have nobot else to fix him,_ end quote."

Thundercracker fought back a snort. "That can be arranged," he mused.

It would be many vorns later before the seeker would realize that being a Peacekeeper had granted him one good thing along with the distrust and sometimes outright hatred of the civilian-cast: it had allowed him to meet his third wingbrother long after he'd given up the hope of having a full trine. And there was nothing in the universe that Thundercracker wouldn't do to keep his brothers functional.

Of course, his job would be a lot easier if Skywarp hadn't managed to get himself promoted to air commander, but he still managed it just fine with Starscream's help.

**Author's Note:**

> Thundercracker's whole life would be a lot easier if he could reign in "gotta save 'em all" Starscream and "don't bother me, can't you see I'm planning the next raid?" Skywarp, but it would be so _boring!_


End file.
